You are really ready to start freshening up your home, but you're not realy sure where to start. Should you try to do the work yourself or should you hire a professional Interior Designer to handle the project?

If you answer yes to any of the questions below, you really should consider hiring a professional Interior Designer or Decorator to move the project along.

Is every minute of every day filled with work, kids, and volunteer obligations? Do you feel as though you just can't add one more thing to your busy life? Read more

• Do You Need to Hire a Professional Interior Designer?

Photo (c) 2006 Atlanta Showhouse

A life of great wealth, surrounded by the finest luxury home decor items in the world, will be achieved by very few of us. Antique furniture and oriental rugs are out of the range of most household budgets.

But if you want to look at the finest quality of household goods, collectibles, artwork, and linens, you're in luck! The resources of luxury items listed here will direct you to some of the sources available to top architects, decorators, and designers.

What makes something a luxury? The piece might be rare or one of a kind, antique or very old, or maybe it is handmade by artisans. Read more

• Bring Luxury Into Your Life With Luxurious Home Decorating

If you're thinking about buying a new (or old!) home, our list of the "Top Things to Look for When Buying a Home" can help to get your search off to the right start. While the number of rooms, condition of the kitchen, and size of the yard are important, there are other things to consider before you make an offer.

For example, consider the size and the floor plan. You may be thinking about buying your dream home. But is your dream home impractical? Do you really need 4 bedrooms and 4 baths when you live alone? A large home can give you the extra space you've always wanted for a home office or crafts or art projects.

But you'll pay higher heating bills and have higher taxes. It will take more furniture to furnish and money to decorate. Think about how the new home space will be used and whether it will fit your lifestyle now and in the future. Read more

• Top Things to Look for When House Hunting

Technically speaking, cottage style isn't really a style. After all, a cottage is meant to be lived in, to be enjoyed, and is usually the recipient of all the cast-offs from the real home. But cottage furnishings and accessorites have grown in popularity in recent years. In cottage style decorating anything (and everything) goes.

The furniture in a cottage style home is often recycled, purchased from a flea market, or collected from family rejects. Nothing really needs to match -- and it shouldn't -- yet the overall effect is charming and comfortable. Anything found can be painted or recovered to help it fit into your scheme. Read more

• Get Comfortable With Cottage Style

Photo: (c) C. Nafie